Joint Rules Committee approves limited remote voting for joint committee members

The Joint Rules Committee on May 14 approved a joint resolution that authorizes members of joint legislative committees to vote remotely for up to three days per committee through the remainder of calendar year 2025.

The measure, presented to the committee by Bethienne, staff member, would give each legislator who serves on a joint committee three days of remote voting authority per committee and requires the committee clerk to record remote votes and track how many days each member uses.

Bethienne said, "this would allow joint committee members to participate remotely. Without such a resolution, members need to meet in person." She told the committee the draft is modeled on the House's committee remote-voting authority and is limited to the end of 2025. "Each member of a joint committee is authorized to vote remotely in that committee for not more than 3 days," she said, describing the plan to allow members to use their three days across whatever votes occur on each remote day.

Committee discussion clarified operational details. A committee member asked, "I'm wondering why we would note it because it's a it's a legitimate vote according to the resolution. So I'm wondering why we would need to know whether it was remote," questioning the need to flag remote votes if they carry the same weight as in-person votes. Bethienne replied that the clerk would both mark a vote as remote (House practice uses a notation) and track the number of days a member exercises the authority.

The committee also discussed scope. The committee was told the resolution applies only to joint committees consisting solely of senators and representatives. If a committee includes nonlegislators, it is subject to the state's open meeting law provisions, which the presenters said provide different rules for remote participation. Committee members confirmed that members may participate remotely without using their three remote-vote days so long as they do not cast a remote vote; the three-day limit applies only to days when the member votes remotely and those days count toward quorum when the member has notified the chair or clerk.

A motion to move the joint resolution passed on roll call. Votes recorded as yes included Senator Ruth, Representative Dolan, Senator Rob Hinsdale, Senator Potent, Senator Limes, Representative McCoy and the committee chair; one member was absent. The committee agreed to have the resolution sponsored through the Joint Rules Committee with House members of the committee listed as cosponsors where appropriate.

The committee closed the meeting after accepting the sponsorship plan and asking for any future agenda requests. No implementation timeline beyond the stated remainder-of-2025 limitation was established during the meeting.